Grafton Middle School highlights behavior gains, expanded clubs and an applied-learning grant

Chris Darcheski, principal at Grafton Middle School, told the School Committee that the school has focused recent work on behavior and attendance and has moved toward restorative approaches to reduce repeat incidents. “The restorative approach is really where we where we're heading,” Darcheski said. “What we want is for students to understand what their behavior was, why did they do that, and how are we gonna now repair it so it doesn't happen again?”

Darcheski said the school developed a behavior matrix with staff to clarify expectations and follow-up, and that counseling and related-services staff are routinely involved when behaviors require support. “I will bring in the counselors. I will bring in the student I work with miss Michelle Narducci all the time when we're talking about students that she works with,” he said.

Attendance and early-year trends: the principal shared attendance data for the first half of the school year and said trends are improving but remain a concern. He said the data were shown as a percentage of the school year…